The IDF and GSS yesterday Wednesday January 11th have permitted for publication that recently a dangerous situation that could compromise security had developed. The Hamas have been spying from inside IDF army bases and soldiers unwittingly became Hamas spies through their cell phones.
It became clear to the intelligence agencies that Hamas information gathering officers successfully contacted IDF soldiers on their personal phones using fake identities in their conversations or messaging. They sent What’sAPP messages to the soldiers and when the soldiers replied to the messages Hamas was able to install malware in their phones without their knowledge. In this manner the soldiers’ phones became instruments of espionage for the Hamas.
In this manner, after establishing contact with middle level IDF officers and regular soldiers, the Hamas was able to gather information about the IDF level of preparation for future military campaigns.
An intelligence officer addressed the issue and said that with G-d’s grace the efforts of Hamas were thwarted and Israel’s security was not compromised. The enemy’s intelligence always has the ambition to gather massive amounts of high quality information about the IDF and its activities. They try to use a whole array of various instruments depending on the ever changing reality and advances in technology.”
The officer continued; “Terror organizations go on social media with fake identities and establish direct contact with soldiers both regular and reserve. This is a varied threat which increases the danger of leaking sensitive information and increases personal danger to the soldier himself.”
The security agencies have started a counter campaign called “Battle of Hunters”. This campaign is in conjunction with the GSS during which activities were carried out on social media to find, identify, track and stop enemy personalities using the web. To date, tens of Hamas operatives attempting to gather intelligence from IDF soldiers were identified. The operatives were able to fool the soldiers talking about other things. They also succeed in planting viruses in the cell phones of tens of soldiers. The terrorists convinced soldiers to go on video chats and in this manner were able to see IDF bases and how they are run.”
The Israeli counter measure will reveal the fake identities the Hamas is using to increase knowledge of the phenomena amongst the soldiers and to prevent enemy access to IDF soldiers. There are also more stringent measures being implemented for how IDF soldiers and security personnel should use the internet in order to protect them and our country.